Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

After entering the restaurant, Longye looked around and gave a friendly smile.

The next moment, Longye stopped and quietly walked to a dining table.

Upon closer inspection, the tablecloth was shaking unnaturally, and giggling sounds were coming from under the table.

The next second, Ryūno bent down and pulled back the tablecloth, chuckling softly, "Genta, come out~"

"Huh?! How did you find me..." Genta crawled out from under the dining table, unwilling to accept it.

“Your laughter is already quite loud, and with your body leaning against the tablecloth, the tablecloth makes strange movements when you laugh.”

Yuantai: "..."

After finding Genta, Tatsuno also sent a text message to Sonoko.

Soon after, Sonoko also found Mitsuhiko, who was disguised, in the ship's reception hall.

Tatsuno found Ai Haibara and Ayumi behind two vases in the ship's cabin corridor.

At this point, everyone except Xiaolan had been found.

……

same moment

Inside the suite, Mr. Hiroshige Kusaka made a phone call to Ms. Minako Akiyoshi.

"Minamiko? I am Kusaka."

"Yes, Mr. Kusaka, please speak."

"Enough with the small talk, let me start with the cast list. Okazaki Nanami, twenty years old, a waitress on the Southern Cross luxury cruise ship..."

After recounting the names of the characters, Hiroshige Kusaka quietly pressed the play button on the recorder in his hand and then placed it next to the phone.

Immediately afterwards, a strange white light emanated from his glasses, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

Before leaving, he put on the coat issued on the ship and put on the hood.

Simultaneously.

Upon hearing the slight change in Hiroshige's voice on the phone, Minako Akiyoshi's glasses became thickly gleaming, and a cold smile crept onto her lips.

……

Cruise ship deck.

Everyone except Xiaolan gathered together.

Sonoko rubbed her chin with one hand, her brows slightly furrowed: "As expected, Ran is the hardest to catch..."

Upon hearing this, Mitsuhiko and the other two asked in confusion, "Huh? Is Ran-neechan really good at hiding?"

"Good at hiding? It's not that simple! If you ask me, she's practically a ninja!" Sonoko said, hands on her hips. "Have you ever seen elementary school students playing hide-and-seek, sticking to the ceiling or hiding in a pond?"

Mitsuhiko and the other two frowned in astonishment at the thought of such a scene.

"The ceiling..."

"In the pond?"

"Amazing……"

Ryūno and Conan exchanged a glance, then both closed their eyes and nodded.

When they were in elementary school, although they rarely played hide-and-seek with Ran and Sonoko, they could still often hear Ran's "glorious deeds" from Sonoko.

Because Xiaolan has always had outstanding physical strength and athletic ability since she was a child, she can always easily do things that ordinary elementary school students cannot do.

This is especially evident in hide-and-seek.

At that time, Xiaolan had a resounding title in her class—"The Young Queen of Hide and Seek".

"Ryuno, there are still more than ten minutes left. We can't give up!" After glancing at her watch, Sonoko clenched her fists and looked at Ryuno solemnly.

"Alright, then let's split up..."

Just as Ryuno was halfway through his sentence, Sonoko suddenly remembered something and excitedly patted Ryuno on the shoulder.

"Wait, Ryūno, why don't you go find it yourself? I'll stay here and watch over these little brats~"

Before Ryūno could speak, Mitsuko and Ayumi looked at Sonoko with confusion.

He couldn't understand why Sonoko had changed her attitude so quickly, and even threatened to tell Ryuno to go find the "ninja-like" Ran himself.

Sonoko noticed everyone's confusion and smiled, "Speaking of which, something like this happened before~"

"That happened when I was in first grade. We were playing hide-and-seek, just like now, and she was the only one who hadn't been found."

"At first, no one was surprised, because Xiaolan always managed to hide until the very end. But by the end of the allotted game time, Xiaolan still hadn't arrived at the agreed meeting point."

Upon hearing this, Mitsuhiko and the other two showed expressions of worry.

Seeing this, Sonoko lowered her voice and slowly said with a cold expression, "Everyone searched for a long time but couldn't find her... That's when we suddenly realized that Ran might have had an accident!"

Chapter 297 A Small Gift with Great Meaning, What About Seashells?

Seeing the tension and fear on Mitsuhiko and the others' faces, Sonoko smiled with satisfaction and continued, "Then I went to find Ryuno, and Ryuno found Ran very quickly~"

Mitsuhiko and the other three: "???"

Huh? That's it? The story is over?!

Mitsuhiko and the other two squinted at Sonoko without saying a word.

"Hahaha! It's not a scary story, of course it's over~ After Ryūno rescued Ran from the warehouse under the stadium, Ran hugged him tightly... cough!"

At this point, Sonoko realized that the people she was talking to were just a few elementary school students, so she immediately coughed lightly and ended the conversation.

Although Sonoko didn't finish speaking, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi clearly guessed what was going to happen next, and the corners of their mouths turned up.

Ai Haibara and Conan also looked at Ryuno with smiling eyes. Although they didn't say anything, Ryuno could still read something from their eyes.

"Alright, alright, you guys wait here for a bit. I'll go find her myself," Long Ye said with a shrug and a light laugh.

After speaking, Longye left everyone with a deep impression of his back and slowly walked towards the stairs.

Now that things have come to this, even without using any special abilities, he vaguely knows where Xiaolan is hiding.

Hide-and-seek, ship bombing—isn't this just like the incident where Uncle Mori "showed his divine power"?

I finally managed to go on a cruise trip, and to have a murder happen is bad enough, but now they want to kick me off the ship?!

Thinking of this, Longye glanced at the bomb highlights that Xiao Jia had marked on the 3D stereoscopic view of the "Aphrodite" and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Soon after, Tatsuno went to the deck restaurant and found the "hidden door" on the floor.

Beneath the door in the floor was a hidden storage room, seemingly used to store tools for cleaning the deck.

Upon seeing the familiar face in the warehouse, Longye smiled slightly and jumped down from the warehouse.

"You've chosen a great location, Xiaolan~"

"Hmph~ What's so great about it? You still managed to find it!" Xiaolan turned her head to the side and pouted.

The next moment, Xiaolan turned her head with a smile and happily hugged Longye.

——“Click”

A soft sound was heard as the two embraced.

Upon hearing the strange sound, Ryuno and Ran immediately separated, their eyes focusing on Ran's coat.

Xiaolan slowly reached into her pocket, and the next second, a pretty little gift bag appeared in their sight.

"What is this?" Xiaolan asked, looking at the bag in her hand with a puzzled expression.

When I put on my coat this morning, there was absolutely nothing in my pockets.

Ryuno glanced at the bag, recalled the "strange" looks Mitsuhiko and the others gave him while they were having breakfast, and smiled slightly.

"Open it and see, Xiaolan. This must be a gift from those children."

"Eh?"

Xiaolan untied the bow at the top of the bag and took out the seashell bracelet inside.

Upon seeing the bracelet, Xiaolan smiled and asked, "Did those kids make this for me?"

Longye glanced at the exquisite seashell bracelet in Xiaolan's hand and nodded with a smile.

Although these children are overly "lively," they sometimes possess surprisingly high emotional intelligence.

……

Soon after, Longye and Xiaolan returned to the group.

Sonoko, Mitsuhiko, and the other two were somewhat surprised to see that Ryuno had actually found Ran before time ran out.

Before Sonoko could even celebrate the "Oni" team's victory, Ayumi noticed the seashell bracelet on Ran's wrist and her eyes lit up: "Look! It seems Ran-neechan has already discovered the gift we gave her!!"

"Really!"

"Haha! We picked up these beautiful seashells on the beach yesterday before boarding the boat!"

"..."

Clearly, all three of them were very excited to see that Xiaolan was already wearing the bracelet they had made.

Sonoko also noticed the bracelet Ran was wearing, and glanced at Mitsuhiko and the other two with surprise, seemingly not expecting these children to be so thoughtful.

After a moment of excitement, Ayumi suddenly stopped smiling, lowered her head somewhat shyly, and said softly, "But this bracelet is a little... different from the necklace that Ryūno-nii gave me..."

Upon hearing this, Mitsuhiko and Genta's smiles froze.

Before Ayumi could finish speaking, Ran gently patted Ayumi's head and said tenderly, "I'm so happy to receive your gifts! To me, this bracelet represents your kindness. I will definitely cherish it!"

“Yes, it’s not the price of the gift that matters, but the sentiment behind it! To Xiaolan, the bracelet you gave her is no different from the necklace I gave her~” Longye nodded with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Mitsuhiko and the other two smiled with joy once again.

Longye and the others exchanged smiles but remained silent.

"Alright! Hide and seek is over. How about we go to the bar for some drinks?" Sonoko raised her hand and said.

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately nodded in agreement.

"Agree!"